


Not a helpless baby

by fangirlingbooknerd



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, a birthday party fic, its a Party Fic, its after britta moves in with the gang, somewhere in season five or season six, this is mostly just an excuse to write annie listening to seashore by the regrettes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlingbooknerd/pseuds/fangirlingbooknerd
Summary: Annie starts the party with one crush, but ends the party with another.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Abed Nadir, Annie Edison/Jeff Winger
Comments: 7
Kudos: 83





	Not a helpless baby

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Seashore by The Regrettes. 
> 
> I literally wrote this in an hour. Here's to hoping that it doesn't suck.

Annie caved on her no party rule just this once. It was Britta’s birthday, and she couldn’t be the friend that ruined another friend’s birthday. She sighed, curling the last piece of her hair. If she was gonna have to host a rager, then she might as well look good while doing it. Besides, Jeff was coming tonight. Maybe if he saw how good of a host she was he would take her a little more seriously. Ugh, now she was thinking about Jeff. After unplugging the flat iron, she walked over to where her phone was plugged in, opening up Spotify. She needed something new, some mood music before this party. Taking her chances, she put on a random pre-party playlist that she found, hoping for the best.

The music faded into the background of her thoughts. She didn’t know any of these songs. Instead she focused on her makeup, trying to get each wing on her eyes to be even. After a third failed attempt, she pulled back up YouTube, watching again and again as they effortlessly swiped perfect lines across their eyes. She squared her shoulders back, took a deep breath, and prepared for battle once more. What she was not prepared for was a sexy sounding intro to a new song. “You’re talking to me like a child,” crooned the band. Immediately, Annie froze, desperate to hear more. “Hey I’ve got news, I’m not a little girl. And no, I won’t give you a little twirl.” Okay… she really liked this track. It’s super far off from what she usually listens to, but something about the lyrics made her feel strong and powerful and sexy. She was sick of people treating her like some dumb little kid.

Feeling more confident, she resumed her eyeliner, smirking in triumph when she finally got a good line on her right eye. With a hand way steadier than before, she matched it on her left. Looking in the mirror, Annie saw a version of herself she had never seen before, but one she really liked. This girl looked like she could get any man she wanted. This girl looked like she could break a few hearts. This girl looked grown up. Smiling, Annie set the song to play on a loop, turning up the volume. The song played over the rest of Annie getting ready, creating a blur of verses mixed in with putting on lingerie she never had the courage to wear before and zipping up a little black dress that was maybe just a little too revealing and putting on heels she knew would be hard to dance in. She didn’t care if it was Britta’s birthday, she wanted to be the one to get Jeff’s attention. She looked hot, but she felt like she was missing something. As she tried to figure out what, she heard a knock on the door.

Britta was standing there, giving her a once over. Before Britta could say anything, Annie rushed, “look I know that dressing all slutty is some sort of bad feminist thing but I want you to know that I feel powerful right now and that should be the most feminist thing of all.”

Britta sighed. “Okay, fine. You do look good. But you’re missing lipstick. Do you wanna borrow some of mine? It’d tie the whole thing together. If you’re gonna go all out, you might as well go ALL OUT.” Annie nodded, following Britta to the bathroom where she kept her makeup. When Britta handed her a bright red lipstick, Annie laughed thinking it must be a joke. “Trust me, Annie. I promise I won’t say anything about…” she trailed off, “See! That’s how much I promise, I won’t even say it now.”

“Okay, okay. If you think it’ll look good.” She carefully swiped some across her lips. Huh. Maybe Britta was on to something here. Seeing the look on Britta’s face, she knew Britta agreed too. “Okay, so… how’s the party looking? Do you need help setting up?”

“Yes, thank you, I thought you’d never ask.” And just like that, Annie was swept back into party planner mode. But it all came together nicely. Even Abed chipped in, setting up bowls of chips and agreeing to DJ. Both girls were a little suspicious when he offered, but he promised that if they didn’t like what he picked that he would step down and that he would take plenty of requests from the audience. Plus, he was the only one who really knew how to connect his laptop to the weird Bluetooth system he had set up around the apartment. They couldn’t afford a real one, so Abed had made his own version.

\---------

The party was going surprisingly well. They were about an hour in and no one had puked or broken anything yet. Abed’s playlist was actually really good. Everyone laughed—except Jeff, who groaned—a little when “Roxanne” by The Police played, all finding each other on the dance floor and thinking about that pizza night from so long ago.

When “Seashore” came on right after, Annie left out a little squeal. The group looked confused, not knowing the song. Abed shrugged. “Annie was playing this really loudly earlier, so I figured that must mean she liked it.” As he was talking, Annie was busy dancing, enjoying the buzz from the sips she had stolen from Jeff’s cup throughout the night.

She couldn’t help but seek him out, singing to him, “You’re talking to me like a child, but my words are growing stronger. And my legs keep getting longer.” Here, she stepped closer to Jeff, grateful for the extra inches that her heels gave her. Her feet were killing her, but it was worth it to be this close to his face. “I’m like nobody else. So you can just go FUCK yourself.” She punctuated this with a tap to his chest.

Jeff looked stunned at the whole display. It wasn’t often he got to hear her curse. Finally, finally, he started dancing with her. He had mostly stood still, enjoying the show, but now he put his hands on her waist, pulling her closer. _Yes_ , Annie thought. _Finally, he’s taking me seriously_. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Annie, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m dancing, having fun.”

“I’ve just never seen you like this before.”

“Yeah, well, even a stuffy librarian type can let her hair down every once in a while. Don’t you like it?”

“Yes.” A pause. “I mean no, no I’m not supposed to.”

Annie snorted. “Who cares what you’re supposed to do? It’s a birthday party for Britta.” Feeling daring, she grabbed his hand, leading him to her bedroom. She wanted to put on a show. There was something about this song that made her feel electric. She strutted around, enjoying the flush on Jeff’s face and the way he was sitting on her bed. Jeff Winger, on HER bed.

“Annie is this a good idea?”

Ignoring him, she kept singing along to the song that was starting to finish up. “I do a lot of stupid stuff, but don’t act like you’re so tough.” She smirked. _What perfect timing for that line_. With each line she leaned in closer and closer until she pressed their lips together on the final line. Jeff responded hungrily, grabbing her waist and pulling her on top of him. When they had to part for air, Jeff opened his eyes, taking in everything that was going on. Her saw her room, the frills, the plushies.

Sighing, he pushed her away. “Annie, we can’t.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re gonna do this again?”

“Look, I care about you. You’re important to me. I’m not gonna throw all that away over a hook up at a Britta party.”

“So what? I’ll just keep making heart eyes at you forever and sometimes you’ll encourage it, until you’re afraid it’s gonna go too far?”

“Annie, I don’t want to hold you back, and I’m a professor now and you’re technically my student and that opens me to a whole new realm of bad possibilities and—”

“Got it.” She sighs. “It’s never gonna happen between us, is it? You’re never gonna return my feelings, are you?”

Jeff looks pained. “Annie, it’s that I won’t. It’s that I can’t.” He runs a finger through his hair. “I should go. Tell Britta that this was a great party, but I had to go home early. Lie and say I had a headache from the loud music or something.” Annie can’t help it; she starts crying. “No, no, do not turn back around,” she hears Jeff mutter, before he opens the door, never looking back.

When the door opens again less than a minute later, she looks up, hopeful. It’s not Jeff, though. It’s Abed. “Are you okay? You came in here with Jeff but now he’s leaving and he looks sad and— Oh. You’re crying.” He comes to sit next to her on the bed.

She sniffles. “Yeah, Abed, I’m crying. Because Jeff does what he always does. He gets my hopes up before snapping back to reality. I know that he wants this as much as I do, so why does he keep pushing me away?”

“Probably because he’s afraid. Most of his speeches boil down us being afraid, but maybe he’s the real coward.” He pauses. “Was that ‘bitchy?’ Too harsh? I never know the line.”

Annie cracks a small smile. “No, Abed, that was perfect. Thank you.” She leans into his shoulder, grateful for the company. She knows that she’ll never understand Abed the way Troy did, but she thinks she gets closer and closer every day. He’s pretty good at understanding her too. She sniffles again. “I just feel so silly you know. I dressed up. I put on a skimpy outfit and tall shoes and all of this makeup for nothing. And now it’s probably all smudged.”

“It wasn’t for nothing. Didn’t you tell Britta that it made you feel powerful? Or did you only feel powerful because you thought it would get Jeff’s attention, because I don’t think Britta would like that…”

“No, I did feel powerful. Now I just feel silly.”

“Look in the mirror Annie. You’re still powerful. You’re powerful whether you’re in perfect makeup or your normal school clothes or sweatpants. You’re Annie Edison no matter what clothes you wear.”

Annie looked in the mirror. Her hair was messed up from how Jeff grabbed it, her mascara and eyeliner were smudging under her eyes and starting to run down her face, and lipstick was smeared around her chin. She looked like a morning after photo. Despite that, she smiled. She was Annie Edison, with or without Jeff’s praise. She didn’t need a man, she only wanted one. And with one, she ended the night looking worse than when she started.

A chill passed through her, but she wasn’t sure if it was because of her realization that maybe she and Jeff weren’t meant to be or because it was cold in the room. They’d turned the AC down expecting the mass of sweaty bodies in the common area, but here she was, in her room in skimpy clothing. Noticing her shiver, Abed took off his hoodie and placed it around her shoulders. She gripped the sides of it, pulling it tighter around her. “Thank you. For the jacket and the talk and everything.”

“No problem, Annie. I hope you feel better.” He got off the bed and headed to the door, pausing to look back before he stepped out. At her nod, he went back into the thrill of the party, leaving her alone.

She looked at her hands, which were bunched up in the hoodie and her stomach fluttered. Maybe she Jeff weren’t meant to be…


End file.
